My ProjectNOLA Blog

For over a month now, ProjectNOLA scanner listeners have been chatting about what appears to be a 20 minute hold then downgrade the priority rule. If the rule truly exists, it appears that a fairly new NOPD SOP dictates that code 2 calls holding for over 20 minutes can be automatically downgraded to a code 1 (lowest priority) call, should it continue to hold in the stack of backlogged calls for service.

What has brought many projectnola members to this conclusion is the following:

1 - Starting just over a month ago, we began to hear district rank ask the dispatcher why a certain (typically code 2 high priority) call was a code 1 call. Dispatch would commonly answer that it is because the call was holding for over 20 minutes.

2 - For the past month, we have heard some district rank officers ask the dispatcher why a particular call had not been downgraded to a code 1 call yet, and the dispatcher would answer because it had not been holding for 20 minutes yet.

3 - At certain times of the day, dispatch will advise rank of the backlog, including the signal code, priority, and time that the call for service came in. We very commonly hear what is normally a code 2 call, holding in the stack as a code 1 call. Once turned into a code 1 call, the incident may hold in the stack for hours waiting for a unit to clear and accept the call for service.

While I was typing this post, there are 3 suspicious person calls, a residential burglary call, and some other normally code 2 calls holding as code 1's in the backlog.

PROBLEM - we are hearing INITIAL, and NOT report calls for service, of suspicious subjects, fights/ disturbances, burglaries, and thefts VERY commonly holding as code 1 calls. The complainant may be waiting for hours before the police arrive.

POSSIBLE SOLUTION - Obviously, NOPD cannot magically acquire hundreds of new patrol officers overnight. However, their are certain standard operating procedures that NOPD can change, which would INSTANTLY help keep more officers clear during the course of the day... reducing the backlog. Mainly... to STOP dispatching UNVERIFIED burglar alarm calls as a code 2 call. This is a story in itself, and one I will follow up on soon.